The Most Valuable Thing We Don't Measure: Brand in the AI Era

The Brand Movement

We improve what we measure. That’s true in business, science, sports, and advertising. Measurement doesn’t just keep score; it defines the game. What we measure shapes what we value. And what we value sets the course for action.

But here’s the paradox: the most valuable and proven driver of growth in advertising — brand — is the one we measure the least.

Yet, it’s why people pay more for one bottle of water than another when both are clear, cold, and sitting side by side on the shelf. It’s the same reason brands invest millions of dollars and months of preparation into a single Super Bowl commercial. Marketers make that commitment because they know the cultural impact, loyalty, and long-term impact it creates for the brand.

Advertising, or the sum of every touchpoint, campaign, message, and signal across every channel over time, is what keeps score. It’s what makes brand choice instinctive rather than rational. And it has proven again and again, when understood, to be the most durable path to sustainable growth.

So while it’s no secret that marketers excel at measuring performance and do it often, the question is: why does measuring brand, the true engine of growth, still sit in the back seat?

Historically, it has been hard to measure, slow, and expensive. It was left off the same dashboards as performance and replaced by site visits, downloads, and signups. This made it difficult to see the very results building demand for tomorrow.

What is the brand movement?

The Brand Movement is a call to make brand the most measured signal in advertising. By scaling brand measurement across every dollar spent, marketers can see how brand and performance work in tandem to unlock the strongest ROI.

Equally, we need to, as an industry, reframe how we think about brand and performance media itself. A coupon or discount campaign at a retailer like Bed Bath & Beyond is often classified as pure performance, judged only on redemptions or sales. However, the reality is that these campaigns also shape how people feel about the brand. A shopper who redeems that coupon isn’t just lowering their basket price; their perception of the brand is being formed. This brand impact has always been there, hidden in plain sight, but until they become measured, they will not be understood.

The future of advertising depends on recognizing this dual impact. Performance campaigns drive immediate action, but they can also build brand or erode brand equity along the way. Brand campaigns create tomorrow’s buyers, while performance campaigns can and should reinforce brand meaning in the moment.

The urgency is sharper in the AI era. Automation is reshaping targeting, bidding, creative, and optimization, rewriting consumer journeys while making signals harder to track. Attribution is stacking models on top of models. In this shifting environment, brand is the anchor, the constant that guides decisions even when clicks fade.

The ripple effect of confidence and growth

When brand measurement becomes universal, confidence grows across the ecosystem. That confidence fuels reinvestment: brands scale campaigns with measurable proof, agencies stretch budgets further through sharper optimization, and media companies capture stronger commitments by demonstrating value with every dollar spent.

The result is an economic flywheel, with more effective campaigns, stronger outcomes, greater investment, and industry-wide growth.

The Brand Movement goes beyond measurement. It fills a critical gap in the marketer’s toolkit by showing how advertising drives the most important engine of growth: brand.

Once unlocked, it empowers marketers to propel their companies forward, ensuring every dollar builds lasting value and advertising becomes stronger, smarter, and more ambitious.